Mechanism for handling cars.



No. 891,933. PATENTED JUNE 30, 1908. G. HOLMES.

MECHANISM FOR HANDLING CARS.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 1a, 1008.

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No. 891,933. PATENTED JUNE 30, 1908.

. G. HOLMES.

MECHANISM FORHANDLING CARS.

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Witnesses I W I T t I I No. 891,933. PATENTED JUNE 30, 1908. G. HOLMES.

MECHANISM FOR HANDLING CARS.

APPLICATION FILED MAR.16, 1909.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

attorney PATENTED JUNE 30, 1908.

G. HOLMES.

MECHANISM FOR HANDLING CARS.

APPLICATION FILED MAR.16, 1908.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

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UNITED STA'IES PATENT OFFICE.

GRANT HOLMES, OF, DANVILLE, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO ROBERT HOLMES &BROTHERS, OF DANVILLE, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS.

MECHANISM FOR HANIOLING C335.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June so, 1908 Application filed March 16, 1908. Serial No.421,375.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GRANT HoLMEs, a citizen of the United States,residing at Danville, in the county of Vermilion and 'State of Illinois,have invented certain new and useful Im rovements in Mechanism forHandling s ecification, reference being bad therein to t e accompanyingdrawings.

This invention relates to mechanism for handling cars, and is designedmore articularly for, handling mine cars in coa mines and similarplaces.

The object of the invention is to provide mechanism by means of whichthe mine cars will be handled to and from the hoisting cage Without theintervention of the operator, and, to this end, it is a further objectof the invention to provide such a mechanism comprising a car lift whichwill be actuated by the downward movement of the cage; to

provide a cushioned landing platform for the cage; and to provide anautomatically operated eager and sump guard.

With these objects in View my invention consists in certain novalfeatures of. con struction and in certain arts and combinationshereinafter to be escribed, and then more plarticularly pointed out inthe claims.

In t e accompanying drawin Figure lis a side elevation of a car hand ingmechan ism embodying my invention; Fig.2 is a top plan view of the same;Fig. 3 is an enlar ed view, partly in section, of the landing p atformand its operating mechanism, to-

sum guard; and Fig. 4 isan enlarged view of t e car-lifting mechanism.

In thesedrawings I have illustrated the preferred form of my inventionand have shown the same as comprising a pluralit of refera ly 'two innum er, each of said trac s comprising a forward or delivery-portion 1,by means of which cars are fed or delivered to the hoistin cage, and arear or discharge portion 2 whic is located at a somewhat higher levelthan the portion 1 andis adapted to receive the empty cars from the cageand to discharge the same by means of suitable switches to a point wherethey can be hauled into the mine. Each of these tracks is rovided with acar lift comprising a movab e track section 3, which, in the presentinstance, is shown as pivotally connected at one end near the end of theelears, of which the following is a vated portion 2 of the track and hasits forward end extending between the side members of a suitable frame4, within which it is capable of a free vertical movement. The

forward end of the movable track section 3 is preferably bent at anangle to the main portion thereof so that, when the track section is inits lowermost position, the forward portion 5 will lie in asubstantially horizontal position and in alinement with the short tracksection 6 leading from the hoisting shaft. .This movable track sectionis elevated by means of suitable cables 7 secured at 'one end to' saidtrack section and extending upwardly over suitable pulleys 8 mounted atthe upper end of the frame 4 and secured at their opposite ends tosuitable power mechanism, which, in the present instance, consists ofafiuid cylinder 9 having a suitable piston 10 and piston rod 11, to theupper end of which the ends of the cables are secured. Each track isalso provided. with a suitable hoistin cage mounted in the hoistingshaft 12. T 's cage, in the present instance, comprises a latform 13carrying the rail sections 14,whic ,when'the cage is in its lowermostosition, are adapted to register with the rails 6 of the track. Thisplatform 13 issupported upon a suitable base 15, by means of braces orsupporting arms 16.

The hoisting cage may be actuated in any suitable manner, it being hereshown as rovided with hoisting rods or cables 17 wlich are secured attheir lower ends to the base 1 of the cage and extend upwardly tosuitable hoisting mechanism. Mounted in the hoisting shaft 12 beneaththe hoistingcageisa landing .latform adapted to receive the cage, whichp atform is preferably movable within the shaft and adapted to operatethe movable track sections, as well as cushion the descent of the cage.In the present instance, this landing platform comprises a frame 17 of asize and shape conforming substantially to the interior of the hoistingshaft, and has near its central portion a supporting member or platform18 adapted to receive the base 15 of the cage. This platform is providedwith a downwardly extending standard or su port 20 which is adapted toreciprocate within the fluid cylinder 21 and form a piston tl'iercfor.This cylinder has extending from a point near its lower end a pipe 22which serves to connect the same with the upper end of the cylinder 9 ofthe oar-lifting mechanism of the 6O understood from the foregoing descrition downward movement of the'landing lat-v form under the influence ofthe wei ht the the cage is removed from the landing platcage and theempty car thereon w' be sufficient to force the fluid from the cylinder21 through the ipe 22 to the cylinder 9 and thus actuate t e piston 10to elevate the movable track section of the other track. And inasmuch asthe track section 3 is greater in weight than the landing platform, thetrack section will descend as soon as the weight of form and therebycause the landing pla orm to again assume its normal or uppermostpositionin readiness to again receive the descending cagei It willfurther be apparent that, inasmuch as the fluid must escape slowly fromthe cylinder 21, the descent of the cage with the empty car will'begradually checked, thereby obviating all jar or jolting of the same.Suitable means are also rovided for controlling the passage of the carsfrom the track 1 to the hoisting cage. This mechanism, as here shown,consists of a piv-' oted rail section 23 having its forward end bent atan angle to the body portion thereof,

- as shown at 24,- and its rear end or main por- 1 track positionslightly inc tion ivotally connected to an arm 25, preferab y by meansof a pin or bolt 26 extending through an elongated slot 27 in the upperend of that arm. The lower end of the arm 25 is.

pivotally connected to thelanding platform, as shown at 28. Thus, itwill be seen that when the landing platform is in its normal or elevatedposition, the main portion of the pivoted track section 23 will beelevated and the ortion 24 will be in alinement with the Land willreceive a loaded car therefrom, the forward movement of the car beingchecked by the upwardly inclined portion of said track section. Asthecage descends and de resses the landing platform, the track 22 wifibe moved about its ivotal center and the main ortion thereof rought intoa substantially orizontal osition, preferably to a lined toward thecage, thereby allowing the car to move off of the same'and onto thecage. In order to prevent the cars on the track 1 from advancing too farwhile the forward portion'24 of the track section 23 is elevated, asuitable sump guard is provided, which, in the present instance,consists of a curved bar or arm 29 secured at its upper end to the railsection 24 and ada ted at all times to occupy such a position t at itwill form a stop for the cars on the track 1. This arm 29 is preferablyprovided with a suitable brace 30 extending from the lower end thereofto the track section 24. Y

The operation of the device will be readily and it will be apparentthat, when the anding platform is mits uppermost or normal position, theportion 24 of the cager or pivoted track section 23 will be in aposition to receive a loaded car thereon, and, as the cage with theempty car descends it will de ress the landing platform and the cager w1be moved aboutits pivotal center and the main portion thereof broughtinto such a position as to discharge the car therefrom onto the hoistingcage, the rails of which are'now in alinement with the railsof theeager. The impact of the loaded car against the empty car on thehoisting. cage serves to push the em ty car off of the cage and onto theslightly inc ined track 6 lying beyond the same which serves toconveythe car to the portion 5 of the movable rail section 3 of thelifting mechanism, which rail section is now in its lower most positioninasmuch as the cage'of the other 'orsecond track is elevated and themovable track section ofthe first-mentioned track is free to assume itslowermost or normal position. When the loaded car is in position on the.cage, the cage is elevated, thus moving the eager 23 into posi tion toreceive another car and also ermitting the pivoted track section 3 of te second track to elevate the landing platform of that track to itsnormal position, and, as the cage of the second track descends, it willdo ress the landing platform of that track ah the movable track section3 of the, first-mentioned track with the empty car thereon will beelevated and that car discharged onto the track 2 and thence, b means ofsuitable switches,'to a position rom which it can be hauled back intothe mine. I

I wish it to be understood that I do-not desire to be limited tostheexact details of construction shown and described, for obviousmodifications will occur to a person skilled in the art.

Havin thus fully described my invention, what I c aim as new and desireto secure by Letters Patent, is:

1. In a mechanism of the character described, the combination, with amovable track section, and a hoisting cage, of means actuated by thedescent of said .ca e for ele vatin the adj acent end of said tracsection.

2. n 'a mechanism'of the character described, the combination, with amovable track section, and a hoisting cage, of means actuated by thedownward movement of said cage for inclining said movable track sectionin a direction away from said hoisting cage.

3. In amechanism of the character described, the combination, with amovable track section, and a hoisting cage, of a movable landingplatform for said cage, and means actuated by the movement of saidplatform for moving said track section.

4. In a mechanism'of the character described, the combination, with amovable track section, and ahoisting cage, of a movable landing platformfor said cage'of less weight than said movable track section, and meansextending between said platform and said track section and actuated bythe weight of said cage on said platform for moving said scribed, thecombination, with a movable track section, afluid cylinder havin a istonconnected to said track section, an a oisting cage, of a second fluidcylinder connected to the first-mentioned cylinder, and a piston forsaid second cylinder adapted to be actuated by said ea c.

7. In a mec anism of the character described, the combination, with amovable track section, a fluid cylinder havin a iston connected to saidtrack section, an a oist ing cage, ofa second fluid cylinder connectedto the first-mentioned cylinder and provided with a iston, a landingplatform connected to the piston of the second cylinder and adapted toreceive said cage, whereby said piston is moved within said secondcylinder and the piston of the first-mentioned cylinder actu ated toelevate said track section.

8. In a mechanism of the character described, the combination, withamovable track section, a fluid cylinder having a piston connected tosaid track section, and a hoisting cage, of a second fluid cylinderconnected to the firstmentioned cylinder and havin a piston, a landingplatform supporte on said piston and adapted to receive said hoistingcage, whereby said pistonds moved within said second 0 linder and thepiston of the first-mentione cylinder actutracks for moving the tracksection of another of said tracks.

10. In a car handling mechanism, the combination, with a plurality oftracks a movable track section in each of said trac latform and said anda hoistin cage for each of said tracks, of a movable Iandmg platformadapted to receive the hoisting ca e of one of said tracks, and meansactuated %y the downward movement of said landing platform for elevatingthe movable track section of the other track. 11. In a car handlinmechanism, the combination, with a plura ity of tracks, each having amovable track section, a fluid cylinder operatively connected to each ofsaid track sections, a hoisting cage for each of said tracks, ofalanding platform for each of said hoisting cages, other fluid cylindersformin supports for said landing platforms, an means for connecting theplatform-supporting cylinder of one track with the movabletrack-sectionoperating cylinder of the other track. r

' 12. In a mechanismof the character described, the combination, with amovable track section and a hoisting cage, of a fluidactuated mechanismadapted to be operated by the downward movement of said cage to movesaid track section.

13. Ina mechanism of the character described, the combination, with amovable -movement of said cage for operating said eager, of a movabletrack section, and means actuated by the movement of said cage for mosaid track section.

15. 11 a mechanism of the character de scribed, the combination, with aplurality of tracks, a eager in each of said tracks, a movable tracksection each of said tracks, and a hoisting cage in each of said tracksbetween sai cager and said movable track section, of means actuated bythe descent of said hoisting cage in one ofsaid tracks for operating theeager in the same track, and other means actuated by the descent of saidcage for movin the movable track section in another of sai tracks.

In testimon whereof, Iaflix my signature in presence 0 two witnesses.

GRANT HOLMES.

